The line that got the biggest laugh at my screening of This Means War was not in the film. It was uttered by colleague Pete Sobczynski. The print cut out two minutes in on the line “Remember: This is a covert mission,” immediate cut to black, cue Pete shouting out, “Oh come on! It can’t be that covert!” At which point Chicago Film Critics Association President Dann Gire nominated Pete for the Roger Ebert Award for Best Witticism. He deserves to win.

So what does this moderate digression have to do with This Means War? It was one of two times I laughed – the other was a throwaway gag where one character asks why the love interest (Reese Witherspoon) is talking to that old man (Chelsea Handler).

This Means War tries to mash two genres and succeeds in making both of them boring. The first is the dreaded rom-com. In this case, a love triangle between two men and one woman. The second is action-spy-thriller, as the two men work together for the CIA. That they’re all but suspended from duty in the first five minutes of the movie is not a good sign.

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If you’ve been keeping with our previous posts, you can see that this year is going to be quite the melting pot of horror films. In today’s installment, we sum it all up with the final films of 2012.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t yet. Now onto the rest.

October 5, 2012 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

(Distributed by Lionsgate Films) This film is intended as somewhat of an alternate sequel to the original 1974 film directed by Tobe Hooper and advances thirty five years into the story.

October 19, 2012 – Paranormal Activity 4

(Distributed by Paramount Pictures) The film is a continuation of the series.  If you’ve seen one then you’ve pretty much seen them all.

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Now that NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox have announced their Fall schedules, we’re getting the other, smaller, networks and all of their info. This time around its The CW and their slate of new and returning shows.

CW’s fall schedule includes 3 blocks of shows from top producers, with One Tree Hill being held for midseason. There will be a Josh Schwartz/Stephanie Savage block on Monday, with new medical drama Hart of Dixie airing after Gossip Girl.

Kevin Williamson takes over Thursday night with new teen witch drama The Secret Circle following The Vampire Diaries, and McG is the man for Friday with Nikita taking over at 8 PM for Smallville with Supernatural still at 9PM. 90210 is moving from Monday to Tuesday to help launch the new Sarah Michelle Gellar drama Ringer.

As sad as we were to see Smallville go its nice to see Gellar return to TV. Let’s hope her new show does her justice. It won’t be Buffy (obviously) but let’s hope its good.

Here’s the full release from the CW as well as the schedule and descriptions of the new shows:

The CW Network will unveil the schedule for its 2011-2012 season today at its annual upfront presentation for advertisers, affiliates and national media from Jazz at Lincoln Center. Electro hip-hop group LMFAO will stage a rousing flash mob dance and performed their hit song “Party Rock Anthem” to open the show. The announcement was made by Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment, and Mark Pedowitz, the new President of The CW.

“We’re thrilled to present the most exciting primetime schedule The CW has ever had, comprised of shows that feature bold concepts, proven TV stars and up-and-coming, breakout talent,” said Ostroff. “In just five years, we’ve built an instantly recognizable brand that resonates with both viewers and advertisers and is known for being smartly provocative, culturally current, emotionally authentic and a leader in digital and social media. This upcoming season will continue to establish The CW as a premier destination for our viewers, especially women.”

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In a time when not even adaptations of board games are off the table for most of the bigger Hollywood studios, a story like this isn’t as far fetched as it should be. McG, director of the Charlie’s Angels films and Terminator Salvation, is taking the lead on directing Ouija for Universal. From THR.

The studio’s planned film adaptation of the classic Hasbro board game about conjuring up spirits of the dead has had a tough go at finding a director but before the town shut down for the holidays, Heat Vision reported that McG presented Universal execs his vision for the project, which has a script by Tron: Legacy writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and is being produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes.

He was vying for the gig against The Crazies director Breck Eisner, who pitched his take on the material the week before.

So not only is a multi-millionaire director taking on this project, but he was actually battling another one for this acclaimed position. Unfortunately, this one has been done. A few times, actually, since 1986′s Witchboard.

That hasn’t stopped McG from taking home the prize….of directing a film based on a supernatural board that allows people to speak with the dead. Well worth it.

For years we have been teased with the possibility of the Dark Horse comic R.I.P.D. coming to the big screen. Now it looks like it will finally happen.

Super producer Neal Moritz (The Fast and Furious, Green Hornet, Luke Cage, Every other upcoming movie you can think of) has been successful in his talks with the man who is becoming a comic book movie regular, Ryan Reynolds (X-men Origins: Wolverine, Green Lantern, Deadpool) and has gotten him to star in the film. In addition, it appears Moritz has scored again, as now rumored to be joining the project is none other than McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation).

McG is currently working on the troubled  This Means War. Unfortunately, This Means War has been a passion project for McG and now that Fox is backing the film it will be his first priority.

With McG’s history of directing big budget blockbuster movies, the expectation is that Universal is looking to take a risk, with them betting that R.I.P.D. will become a summer blockbuster.

R.I.P.D. (Rest in Peace Department) follows the adventures of two dead cops, one recently deceased and the other who died centuries ago, who police the dead. In addition to Reynolds, rumored for the co-starring role opposite is Zach Galifiniakis.

Do you think McG is the right fit to direct? Who do you think would be better? Sound off and let us know!

Get ready for some cool undersea adventure as Disney is about to go 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with director David Fincher. Previously, the studio had been talking with Charlie’s Angels helmer McG about taking on the pic, but that didn’t end up happening.

Now, Disney has decided that the film might need a fresher approach and is going after Fight Club‘s Fincher to direct and Bourne Ultimatum scribe Scott Z. Burns to write the script. The project reportedly came together after Fincher approached Disney and said he wanted to tackle a big “tentpole” project for the studio and something different from his usual dark, R-rated films.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, it is based on a novel by Jules Verne, first published in 1869, and tells the story of a group of men who encounter a vengeful scientist names Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus. Plus, if you remember the first Disney version of the film, which is a classic by most standards, there’s also a giant squid the men, including a young Kirk Douglas, must fight in order to survive.

Last year, Disney was fast-tracking a $150 Million Leagues that would have served as an origin story for Nemo. But that film was canceled after a regime-change at the studio. Now, Disney wants to get back in the Nemo business and this new film, even though plotlines are still a secret, will reportedly be more like Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

Not sure exactly what that means, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Maybe it means Nemo has a son and they have family issues? Could be.

Any real fans of the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright trio know that they all didn’t meet on the set of Shaun of the Dead. In fact, the reason they got the chance to do Shaun was due to the success of a 1999 BBC TV series they all created called Spaced.

The show, starring Pegg, Frost, and Jessica Hynes, was about a comic book artist who has to fake a marriage with a complete stranger in order to stay in an apartment made for “professional couples.” The show was quirky and funny, and developed a huge cult following on DVD. It also seemed to turn the heads of a few US producers, including McG and now producer of Chuck and Human Target, Peter Johnson.

The U.S. version of the show was a failure, to say the least, and never made it past the pilot stage. None of the original creative team were involved, or even brought into the loop that the show existed, until recently. Simon Pegg twittered a clip from the failed pilot, starring Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect), Josh Lawson, and Will Sasso (MadTV).

Take a look at the clip after the jump, and you’ll understand why the show never made it past the unaired pilot. The only thing worth mentioning is that Will Sasso truly is the US version of Nick Frost. Outside of that, there isn’t much going for this half-assed clone of a show.

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With Black Friday sales behind us but with Christmas right around the corner, there’s still time to get some great movies on DVD and Blu-ray this holiday season. To help, here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as The Wizard of Oz, Gremlins, Snatch, Ben 10: Alien Swarm and the Blu-ray debut of McG’s Terminator: Salvation (shown above with Christian Bale and Sam Worthington).

Check them out:

A Christmas Tale (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)

Ben 10 Alien Swarm ~ Ryan Kelley, Nathan Keyes, Alyssa Diaz, and Galadriel Stineman (DVD and Blu-ray)

Better Off Ted: Season One ~ Jay Harrington, Portia de Rossi (DVD and Blu-ray)

Gremlins ~ Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates (Blu-ray)

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It looks as if another franchise could end up being a victim to the economic recession. The rights to the lucrative Terminator movie series are up for sale yet again. The LA Times reports Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced Terminator: Salvation, are looking to sell the rights as they work through a Chapter 11 reorganization.

But fans shouldn’t get too worried about never seeing their favorite Terminator model on the silver screen again. There’s a long history of franchise rights changing hands over the years.

At the time of release in 1984, production company Hemdale Films owned a 50% interest and director James Cameron sold the other half to producer Gale Anne Hurd for $1. Carolco Pictures, owned by producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, bought Hemdale’s stake in 1990 for $10 million, but filed for bankruptcy in 1997.

Kassar and Vajna then created C2 Pictures, which bought their old company’s stake for $8 million and the remaining 50% from Hurd for $7 million. In 2007, Kassar and Vajna sold the rights to current owners, Anderson and Kubicek.

No word yet on how the potential sale will effect Terminator 5 and 6, which Terminator: Salvation director McG is working on, but if box office receipts and ownership history are any indication of what the future might hold, the potential owner is sure to find some way to keep the story going.

Even with our own Matt Raub’s less-than-stellar review, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Termnator: Salvation hit the ground running and so far has done well at the domestic box office. With a first-day total of $13.3 million, including some Wednesday midnight performances, the film is expected to gross close to $70 million through the Monday holiday.

The first-day tally for the film fell short of any significant record, but that could be the good news for Warners if it’s to outpace Fox’s big opener, Night at the Museum 2, for weekend bragging rights. Weekend rankings will be based on Friday through Monday grosses and, according to the reporter, some had suggested a huge Thursday gross might sap the Terminator of sufficient boxoffice strength to take the top spot for the weekend.

Paramount’s Star Trek continued to perform well and was second among Thursday’s top grossers earning $3 million to make its total $161.6 million so far. Sony’s Angels & Demons was third with $2.6 million, pushing the Tom Hanks starrer beyond $160 million.

I guess you should never underestimate the power of Christian Bale, explosions and robots that kill.

Before you sit down in that dark theater this weekend to see Terminator: Salvation, if you are a fan of the Terminator franchise, this movie is not for you. The very first words out of my mouth after walking out of the theater were “This was a terrible Terminator movie, but a pretty good Transformers movie.” Truer words haven’t been said abut this film. We at The Flickcast had our doubts about this film, between Bale’s outburst on set and McG slowly stepping out of the limelight, but none of us expected the film to be this bad.

Even going into this without expectations, it’s pretty hard to salvage a good movie from the two hours or so you’re in the theater. With bad accents and love story subplots, this movie forces fans of the franchise into a blinding rage by the time the credits role. I had the luck of being in a packed house with fans who were hooting and screaming when the first titles came on the screen. Their demeanor changed pretty quickly as the movie went on.

What makes this film a better Transformers film than a Terminator film? How about the complete lack of anything “time travel”. It’s understood in Terminator canon that they don’t find a time travel device until the fall of SkyNet, but how can you continue a franchise and not even address one of it’s biggest plot points? That would be like making a sequel to Back to the Future all about how peaceful and trouble free the McFly’s are in 1996. The closest they came to this plot point was the voice of Sarah Connor on a tape recorder giving John instructions from the past (not Linda Hamilton, by the way).

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Sure, you could wait until this Friday to see Terminator: Salvation, the latest film in the Terminator saga. You could also ignore the other clips and bits of info we’ve shown you in the past about the film and just go in cold. But really, what fun would that be?

Instead, why not take a look at another clip from the film, courtesy of MTV’s Movie’s Blog, featuring Sam Worthinton and Star Trek’s Anton Yelchin as Marcus Wright and the young Kyle Reese.

This clips has a bit of cool Terminator action as well as a line of dialog you may be familiar with — that is if you’ve ever seen any other Terminator films. Of course, if you haven’t seen any other Terminator films, you’re probably not reading this right now. For better or worse, Terminator: Salvation opens this Friday. Meantime, enjoy this clip. . . or not.